'Photograph' Review

Directed
by Ritesh Batra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra starrer Photograph got
released today in India. After movies like The Lunchbox, The Sense of an Ending,
and Our Souls at Night, Ritesh has landed up with another masterpiece. Ritesh and
his films have been acclaimed globally: from Brazil, Cannes, Toronto to UK.
Photograph is another of his master work which is also another unique love
story with hesitance. Previously, the movie was premiered at Sundance Film
Festival and was also selected in Berlinale Special section of 69th Berlin
International Film Festival. The plot basically revolves around Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who is a street
photographer at Gateway of India and convinces Milony(Sanya Malhotra)to pose for a photograph which then leads to
slow romance between them and path of self-discovery.

Photograph
gets a cinematic plus poetic touch which will attach you to the characters just
from the very beginning. Not only the settings around but the names itself are
too cinematic. You can enjoy the movie by amazing discount offers available
while choosing to book movie
ticket online with Bookmyshow Coupons. Nawazuddin who plays as Rafi and
later in the movie, he and his young woman friend go for a movie and the song ‘Tum
Ne MujheDekha’ plays which was originally sung by Mohammed Rafi.

When Rafi meets Miloni at Gateway and
persuades her to get a picture clicked, he uses some cheesy lines to convince
her,just like a shopkeeper does. As he says, every time she will look at the
photograph, she will be reminded of the sun caressing her cheeks and her hair flowing
with the wind. The words play the role and Milony gets her picture clicked but
she went away without paying.

Rafi's
grandmother who has gone off medicine won't have any more until Rafi gets
married. Rafi makes up a story that he has to find someone named Noorie.
Hearing the song ‘Noorie’ of the 1979 hit movie Noorie, he comes up with the
name and shows the picture of Milony as his lover. So, Rafi tracks Milony down
and convince her to fake their relationship.

In the movie, we get to see two very different
people, just like old Bollywood classic. Milony who comes from a rich Hindu
Gujarati family and is a Chartered Accountancy topper whereas Rafi is a
struggling photographer who lives in a trashy kind of room that he shares with
four others. Also, you can see that dramatic Indian color range where the girl
has kept conventionally fair and boy quite dark. So, it all ironical in the
film when it comes to two characters and how they meet.

Directed
by Ritesh Batra, you will feel this movie is a free flow not knowing where it
will g, but wherever it will leave you
in the end, the end will be beautiful. In this 108 minutes of times, the movie
at parts leaves you with questions like: Are we free to love anyone
irrespective of caste and classes? How is Miloni more comfortable in the
lifestyle followed by Rafi?

Miloni
being quiet women and non-flamboyant woman is an introvert basically who feels
like she is prisoned at her own home. And, all credit goes to the Ben
Kutchins’s camera which makes you believe that by taking the shots of window
grills which look like the iron bars of a prison. But, when it comes to Rafi,
she loves to know more about him and drown in his life. Being the topper, she
feels it a burden now and not feeling motivated whereas Rafi is all comfortable
in his own space.

The
director of this film makes this a very unique kind of romance, unlike Shah
Rukh Khan genre. The movie moves sweet and simple where
you can feel the current social problems when it comes to love. There is a
hesitance in their love, awkwardness and class difference too. Both the actors,
Nawaz and Sanya perform their roles brilliantly and you can see that in their
eyes, body language (that's the cherry on the cake) story plus the crisp
acting. Farrukh Jaffar playing the grandmother of Siddiqui also delivers a
solid performance with both sarcasm and her wisdom.

Not
only has the cast including Nawaz and Sanya, but Mumbai also played an
important role in the movie. You can also try to book this on available online
ticket booking platform and grab good discount by using Freecharge Offers
for movie tickets.The settings, the frozen time and how characters evolve
while going places in the city. The cinematographer develops Mumbai as a
character too and it looks really great to see that. The unique bond shared
between Miloni and Rafi is all this film is about living in the moment by
cutting the threads of the past and don't caring about the future- sweet and
simple.

All
said, Photograph by Ritesh Batra is a beautiful Pindaric to the city of dreams,
Mumbai, and to the Bollywood hits too with a unique love story throwing
questions.

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Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.